Rebane's Ruminations
April 2019
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George Rebane

The long-awaited report from special counsel Robert Mueller has turned out to be a disappointment on all counts to all sides.  The following summarize my initial take on it.

  1. From a legal perspective, the report is an iconic nothing-burger. A 400-page embarrassment that documents the failure to conclude anything definite about the commissioned purpose for the drawn-out investigation.  It is a collection of legal pabulum as a CYA disguise for spending tens of millions over two years to no avail.
  2. From the gitgo the Mueller investigation was an obviously composed effort to nail the president and derail his administration. The composition of the investigative team and its flailing, off-the-mark, subsequent indictments gave evidence that it really was a desperate witch hunt which had to fire off a few legal pyrotechnics now and then to keep the effort looking credible to the light thinkers.
  3. From a political perspective, the report is a success. Since there was no credible prosecutorial evidence for either ‘collusion’ or ‘obstruction’, the investigation’s redoubt terminus was always to deliver a product that would dissemble its conclusions so as to invite and enable follow-on probes which the Democrats took every opportunity to specify during the 22-month fiasco.  Team Muller got its marching orders early and often from the Left and its lamestream.
  4. President Trump and his administration have been isolated, perhaps, like no other administration in our history. The Dems could never accept the election results, and the Repubs have carried on a feckless relationship with a president who obviously was not their first choice from their retinue of available candidates.  And Trump’s incurable foot-in-mouth disease did not endear him to anyone in the Washington political establishment.  Mueller’s investigation was drawn out for the obvious collateral damage it was inflicting by hobbling and diverting Team Trump from governing.
  5. Mueller’s work has also served 1) to firmly entrench the public’s longstanding opinion of the dodgy legal profession and our convoluted and corrupt justice system in which it operates, and 2) to highlight and further widen our country’s ideological divide. The report’s dearth of evidence and painfully wordsmithed syntax made sure that it would change no minds already secure in their beliefs about Trump’s guilt or innocence.  All sides can now put their own particular spin on it, and never look back.

WSJ Washington columnist Kim Strassel adds more meat to these points in her ‘Mueller’s Report Speaks Volumes’.

[20apr19 update]  Upon reflection on Volume 2 of the report dealing with obstruction, it strikes me as more than utter bullshit that would be below the standards of any other profession other than those populated mostly by sleazebag lawyers.  I add point #6.

  1. “… while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” A little thought immediately causes one to ask, ‘is there ANY investigation that cannot have such a codicil appended to its conclusion, should the investigator desire to leave a cloud over the individual investigated without the finding of any illegality or indictable criminality??’ To conclude with such an unnecessary assertion is an act of desperation which confirms that the investigation was carried out with an agenda unfulfilled.  Such a dangling innuendo strongly implies that guilt could yet be uncovered with more effort, and forces the so accused into having to prove his own innocence – not exactly the way our system of jurisprudence was intended to operate.  (That is one of the many reasons I assess our judicial system to be invitingly corrupt.)

In Mueller’s case he was not able to indict someone for not obstructing an unobstructed investigation that terminated without finding any evidence of an indictable crime.  About that the Dems are pissed to the gills, and will now do everything to correct the situation.  Go figger.

Posted in , , ,

316 responses to “The Mueller Report – some early takes (updated 20apr19)”

  1. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Oh great pony tail of ignorance, ITS THE ECONOMY STUPID! Bush the first had a ‘peace dividend’ recession post gulf 1. DUH!
    That they let the pony tail of ignorance prattle on the airwaves cements po’ ol’ fakenewsman as the resident liar.
    😉

    Like

  2. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Don Bessee | 21 April 2019 at 10:46 PM
    Yeah Don you didn’t note Palookas 9:11…..

    Like

  3. Bill Tozer Avatar
    Bill Tozer

    It’s only been a couple of weeks since the circuit court’s ruling on release of grand jury transcripts, but few are talking about this. At first glance it appears Nadler & Co are subpoenaing William Barr to break the law, lol.
    https://www.lawfareblog.com/summary-dc-circuit-rules-grand-jury-secrecy-mckeever-v-barr

    Like

  4. George Rebane Avatar

    re BillT 735am – Don’t know why the obvious point, much discussed here, does not make national headlines. Congress itself is not above the law, and cannot use it powers to force others to break the laws it has made. Why does not one of the guys with a mic ask Nadler if it’s even legal for his committee to subpoena the AG to violate the law and release an unredacted version of the Mueller report revealing grand jury investigations and testimonies? Are Nadler and his Democrats promoting an obvious crime?

    Like

  5. Paul Emery Avatar

    Wow
    Trump drops 8 points in RR’s favorite poll, Rasmussen, since the release of the Mueller Report. The bottom is falling out and the swamp is draining!!!
    +4 April 5
    -4 April 22
    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/trump_approval_index_history

    Like

  6. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Wow!
    Paul still can’t think straight!

    Like

  7. Ozz Avatar
    Ozz

    Beat me to it Paul – and all bets are that he continues to fall. Trump thinks impeachment will help him?? Maybe he should look at these numbers. The more contemptible he becomes, the less inclined people will be to give him their vote. They may not vote for the Democrat, but out of disgust for his character they won’t vote for Trump either. Let him rage and rant and tweet. All unbecoming of a leader and not working to curry any favor beyond his cud chewing base. Relentless dripping is a proven technique for sowing contempt. Drip on!

    Like

  8. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Gregory | 22 April 2019 at 10:08 AM
    Wow!
    Paul still can’t think straight!

    Might as well let him have it Gregory…..polls keep him going while waiting for god to call him home.

    Like

  9. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “Paul still can’t think straight!”
    I just bothered to look at his link (a rarity, I assure you), and I just see a random walk with little real change over time. I expect that it’s about par for a modern President at this point lacking a war. It’s easier to be against something than for it.
    That’s the beauty of the Blue Mob, it’s more fun to be outraged than to justify. Intellectual laziness usually is the best path for maximum utils of satisfaction, so I can’t blame them.

    Like

  10. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Look at the graphed daily Presidential poll at Rasmussen…
    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/prez_track_apr22
    It’s just noise in a trading range. And Trump is exactly where Obama was at the same day in his first term… 47% approval.
    No Paul, you can’t double count every percent drop and not be laughed at. Easy go, easy come, easy go, easy come…

    Like

  11. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    Gregory@10:27AM
    Damm it, you beat me agin. I was going to post this:
    https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/trump-and-obama-approval-ratings2.jpg
    I’d love to take Mr. Ozzzz’s bet “and all bets are that he continues to fall.”. Too funny.
    What say? Even over/under odds that Trump hits 70% disapproval in a month? It’ll be like taking candy from a baby.

    Like

  12. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    as an aside. Smooth that line a bit and the local bolshies wouldn’t like it so much.

    Like

  13. Paul Emery Avatar

    8 point drop Gregory. Do you deny that?

    Like

  14. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Gregory | 22 April 2019 at 10:27 AM
    It’s just noise in a trading range. And Trump is exactly where Obama was at the same day in his first term… 47% approval.

    …and Obama had a conciliatory……dare I say “fellatial” mainstream press. Were it not for the “resistance” in newsrooms Trump might very well have the best historical numbers at this point in any presidents term!

    Like

  15. Paul Emery Avatar

    8 point drop since the release of the Mueller report. Do any of you deny that? You can wrap it in a smiley but the math is the math.

    Like

  16. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 April 2019 at 10:45 AM
    Do you deny that?

    Uh oh……..Palooka as “Evangelical Preacher” is in the house!
    “Do you deny that?……..Do you deny that YOU walk with SATAN? (oops……I typed that first as STAN…..which probably would have been confusing) YES OR NO?!?!?! Yes or No?
    Can I get an AMEN???

    Like

  17. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 April 2019 at 10:47 AM
    Do any of you deny that? You can wrap it in a smiley but the math is the math.

    Punchy….if I was on fire and you told me, I’d track down somebody else who had a better grasp on reality for a second opinion!

    Like

  18. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    I watched the Sunday talking heads yesterday at my leisure, before going to bed.
    Giuliani was making the rounds… I saw him first on Fox News Sunday, last on Meet the Press.
    Chris Wallace kept asking questions and interrupting Giuliani when he tried to rub two facts together to make the case.
    College drop out Chuck Todd tried to debate Giuliani and came out badly. Sometimes gotchas don’t work.
    Thinking about talking heads of old, I still miss both Tony Snow (Fox) and Tim Russert (NBC). Their dying in the months before the ’08 election (Snow of metastatic colon cancer, Russert of a massive heart attack) deprived the country of good natured, fair and knowledgeable questioning of politicians in a timely manner.

    Like

  19. Paul Emery Avatar

    Do you deny an 8 point drop fish?

    Like

  20. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    Here is the po’ ol’ fakenewsmans greatest rancid Russian dressing misses. Read em and weep –
    https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/04/22/top-51-fake-news-bombshells-media-spread-russiagate/
    😉

    Like

  21. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Paul, work your magic with January 3 as your start point. Or March 12, or the 18th. Or a number of other dates where Trump’s approval and disapproval numbers, according to Rasmussy, were exactly the same as today’s.

    Like

  22. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “Do you deny an 8 point drop fish?”
    Heck, I’ll answer for both of them.
    You don’t know how to read that chart. No, it’s not an 8 point drop.

    Like

  23. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: scenes | 22 April 2019 at 11:08 AM
    You don’t know how to read that chart. No, it’s not an 8 point drop.

    It’s worse than that…….I couldn’t care any less! Punchy will be boring us with polls until Trump is overwhelmingly relected or until Punch goes the way of Ira Einhorns girlfriend.
    Either way works for me!

    Like

  24. Paul Emery Avatar

    Huh scenes? What is the difference from + 4 to – 4? George, you are a math guy, help him out. Is this what you refer to as the decline in numeracy in America? Gregory these sets of numbers are reflection of his drop since the release of the Mueller Report and Barrs blather.
    Actually Trump has slumped 17 points since Jan 26 2017 when he was + 13. That is established fact. You can interpret any way you like but the numbers are what they are.
    I’m even using RR’s favorite poll so you can’t blame it on bias in the polling service.
    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/trump_administration/trump_approval_index_history

    Like

  25. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    (Slams door. walks down corridor, opens next door. Gets hit on head as he steps through.)
    Man: Hello, I want to… Ooooh!
    Spreaders: (Terry Jones) No, no, no. Hold your head like this, then go Waaah. Try it again. (hits him on the head again)
    Man: uuuwwhh!!
    Spreaders: Better, Better, but Waah, Waah! Hold your hands here.
    Man: No.
    Spreaders: Now..
    Man: Waaaaah!!!
    Spreaders: Good, Good! That’s it.
    Man: Stop hitting me!!
    Spreaders: What?
    Man: Stop hitting me!!
    Spreaders: Stop hitting you?
    Man: Yes!
    Spreaders: What did you come in here for?
    Man: I came here to complain.
    Spreaders: Oh no, that’s next door. It’s being-hit-on-the-head lessons in here.

    Like

  26. Paul Emery Avatar

    What are you talking about Gregory? Goodness, you’re losing it. I guess you can’t deal with simple math.

    Like

  27. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    Gregory@11:33AM
    It occurs to me that he doesn’t know what a ‘point’ is.

    Like

  28. Paul Emery Avatar

    I mean we all know Monty Python but what does that have to do with poll numbers???

    Like

  29. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    scenes 1142am
    He only sees places to possibly land a punch.

    Like

  30. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    “He only sees places to possibly land a punch.”
    That is a boring way to lead your life.

    Like

  31. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    It works for Punchy.

    Like

  32. Paul Emery Avatar

    Gregory
    My jabs have opened up a huge opening in RR’s pathetic defense and that is a total lack of numeracy and literacy. I am content to just jab away. Thanks for sparing.

    Like

  33. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    If you truly believe your 1207, you are delusional.
    But I doubt it… you’re more likely just throwing punches.

    Like

  34. Ozz Avatar
    Ozz

    Thanks for jabbing Paul. It’s nice to let them know that they are a minor blemish on the community and don’t represent the vast majority of us sane and compassionate True Patriots.

    Like

  35. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 April 2019 at 12:07 PM
    My jabs have opened up a huge opening in RR’s pathetic defense and that is a total lack of numeracy and literacy. I am content to just jab away. Thanks for sparing

    Oooh……embarrassing! “Sparing”…..you would think that the single word central to the point you are trying to make would be spelled correctly! I guess not!
    …….you oughta consider taking a dive!
    https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sugar-ray-leonard-micky-rooney-bob-hope-1979-photo-by-john-barrett-176681531.html

    Like

  36. George Rebane Avatar

    It continues as a matter of humorous interest as to why all these members of the “sane and compassionate True Patriots” continue frequenting a website that they acknowledge is only a voice of the “minor blemish on the community” that does not “represent the vast majority”. There must be some profit in it for them since their sentiments appear nowhere else hereabouts. What could that be?

    Like

  37. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Fish, you know the saying, “spar the rod and spoil the Paul”.

    Like

  38. fish Avatar
    fish

    If you truly believe your 1207, you are delusional.
    Oh, rest assured he does! Every word!
    Then again he earned his moniker by taking too many blows to the head!

    Like

  39. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    George
    My sparing reveals the delusional optimism about Trump that the RR’s embrace. The lack of any concern as to Trumps poll numbers that have declined so dramatically since Jan 2017 are an example. I mean he did win the election but barely and any decline from that level of support would have to be a concern. I mean dealing 17 points in a friendly poll is a pretty big deal but not to the RR’s that live in a bubble of ignorance. \

    Like

  40. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    However as sparring partners they are adequate but predictable and take a punch rather well making for a good workout.

    Like

  41. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    sp ” I mean dropping 17 points”

    Like

  42. Todd Juvinall Avatar

    I think he might be loose in the head about numbers. Too many hits.

    Like

  43. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 April 2019 at 01:17 PM
    Wow old timer…..pretty good “sparing”…..guess you sure showed us young whippersnappers just what was what!
    https://giphy.com/gifs/funny-lol-wtf-1n3Icv3iptOCmN7uYh

    Like

  44. Paul Emery Avatar
    Paul Emery

    Yeah fish, I hope you learn something

    Like

  45. fish Avatar
    fish

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 22 April 2019 at 01:44 PM
    Yes…..your Kung Fu…..just…..too…..strong.
    https://giphy.com/gifs/fight-Y3AwGfxlDbkPu

    Like

  46. George Rebane Avatar

    PaulE – Here’s something that might put into perspective all of your many outrages about using “stolen information” against your political opponents.
    https://dailycaller.com/2019/04/22/adam-schiff-180-ethics-stolen-info-political-foes/

    Like

  47. scenes Avatar
    scenes

    re: GeorgeR@3:04PM
    That’s a good one. Keep in mind that Paul thinks that a change in the difference between two numbers is the same as a change in a number, so you might lose him on that one too.
    This is too funny. It turns out that Hillary (not just her good friend Obama) use the term ‘Easter Worshipper’. You’d think there’d be a more straightforward way to say that.
    https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1120013694073810944

    Like

  48. Don Bessee Avatar
    Don Bessee

    @334 – Didn’t you hear? The 2019 talking points for socialist dems outlawed using the word Christ and all of its associated words like Christians. LOL
    😉

    Like

  49. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    I’d wager that if we added up all of Paul’s breathless reports of drops in Trump’s numbers, Trump would be at negative 327% approval.
    The old account of Schiff getting a woody over dirt on Trump from Ukraine is very on point. Also… there’s multiple stories in the news about Giuliani saying there’s nothing wrong with using stolen information against a political opponent… but the Trump tower meeting didn’t result in any dirt on Clinton being transferred, and Giuliani was nuanced about using Wikileaks that might have been based off of Russian thefts… that the information was spot on truthful, undisputed, unembellished, the Trump campaign had nothing to do with the theft and Wikileaks had already spread it to anyone in the world who wanted to read it.
    This is me talking now… it would be political malpractice to pretend not to have read such information and to use it.

    Like

  50. AVMan Avatar
    AVMan

    ,,,20april19 update,,, The report was never going to result in a charge…
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r3sELVQr5SE
    ,,,but that doesn’t mean the Orange Man with the Guilty Conscience won’t get charged in the future…

    Like

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